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another world championship of alt biking and liking — the 9th annual! this year, like last year and the year before, will be held at Dear Lake Camp in Killingworth Connecticut — enveloped in quaintness and it’s trappings. what deep pleasures in these soft times of bumpy bike rides!

here is some media from 2 years so you can get an idea of what you are getting into

rons bikes coverage ::: the Radavist coverage ::: Bikepacking.com coverage :::

if you skipped a year, like last year there are no “nearly all you can eat” pizza tickets. a few slices is included with your reg for everyone — we pushed our pizza purveyors to the limits — so we are bringing in more food for purchase from farmer Jess and a vegan food truck. We will also have a coffee cart from a new local Minnow Coffee.

Drought conditions: last year a fire ban went into effect the week before the event. its pretty dry again so far this year, but we will certainly hope for rain — just not on our weekend of course … rain or shine or drought we are on.

Volunteers: there is a discounted ticket for volunteers to select on bikereg.

Camp Options: there are Cabins and bunk houses on the premises, lean-to shelters, tent camping, and car camping zones. camp sites and bunk cabins are first come first serve on Friday starting at NOON. 

Getting there: from NYC the metro north to New Haven, transfer to shoreline east to Clinton. Dear Lake is 5 pleasant miles from the station. Roll on bike service and all. could do the same from Boston I suppose. you can always drive too — there will be plenty of parking, but we always like to not have tooooo many cars involved. If flying, Bradley International Airport (BDL) is an hour drive. 

routes to the event: I make up a few country options each year from the New Haven train station and Clinton train station. Old Saybrook too if you are coming from Boston. those will be emailed by Thursday before the event.

Why this date?: this is the weekend when the last fall foliage of New England reaches it’s peak — a farewell in many ways. 

Yard Sale Swa(m)p meet:  it’s 20 bucks extra at reg to sell bikes, parts, merch, bespoke wooden dildos etc. There will be a special designated covered area for this part of the event in the great hall. 20 (down 5 from last year as it was too tight) vendor tickets are available — 8ft folding table included. there will be wifi in this area this year to make electronic payments easier.

Classes: not sure if we are going to bother this year, but if you really want something, email Tenzin@ronsbikes.com

Food: our olde friends Fire in the Kitchen will be tossing pizza pies for the 8th year in a row on Saturday night for the pizza party. there will be enough for everyone to have a few slices. We will have Jess from the farm and food trucks of sorts for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday too. there are Stop & Shops with decent natural foods sections nearby in both Madison CT and Clinton CT 5 miles from the event space. There will be camp fires and your camp stoves to cook other things and make coffee etc.

Coffee:  Minnow coffee espresso drinks for purchase — we will also have the giant percolators going as usual for this with less discerning tastes.  

Weather:  generally we want to expect cracker Jack 60-70 F and sunny with Southern New England fall foliage at its absolute peak gloriousness. that being said, it can also be a deluge as we found out 2 years ago, or drought condition fire ban like last year. we make it work! 

Rain Date?:  nope! It’s New England!

Toilets: there are a whole lot of them on the premises 

Water: there is potable well water at site 

Showers: bring some wet wipes! there are also showers on the premises, and perhaps rain to stand out in.

Kid Friendly?: its pretty adult I would say, but use your discretion.

e-bikes: no ebikes, sorry. the trails do not allow them in the area.

refunds: sorry, no refunds, but if you need to transfer your reg to someone else, you can do it via bike reg.

Routes: there will be 3-5 of them ranging from an easy country road spin with a stop at the beach to rugged class 4 roads and lots of trail that you might think is hiking trail because it is. I will post the routes the week before the event along with the suggested tire size. you can do as many of the routes as you’d like. 

Aid stations: there will be no aid stations or external support once you leave the venue location. the gpx routes will be enriched with waypoints showing you where to get water and food while you are out, but you are on your own for the most part.

Navigation: highly recommend a head unit or some way to strap your phone to your handlebar as the courses will not be marked, and there are a lot of turns and easy ways to get really turned around out there. I would not recommend anyone going out on one of the longer rides without a head unit.

Registration: OPEN NOW at bike reg

hope everyone has a good month! stay tuned to reg emails for more, and I will try and answer any questions in the comments.

XO RR